[gblake]

Originally Posted by team F.T.C 4240

... I've used VEX and it does not preform well when there is contact involved, my team and I made that VEX bot as robust as we could and it took a great deal more work to get it competition ready, mostly because the kit it self is so flimsy. Say you take a VEX bot to the FTC world competition and it get rammed into a wall by a 52 lb robot (like ours this year), don't you think something would break?

You must be joking.

Drive down to Northern Virginia to chat with me, or ask some of the many Maryland groups using Vex parts to show you how to build a sturdy Vex bot. There is absolutely no doubt that the kit's structural parts work just fine.

The thousands of teams that use Vex equipment successfully in VRC, in Best, and for other purposes, are prima facie evidence that your assertion is just plain wrong.

I have personally used both Tetrix and Vex parts and have a pretty good grasp of their major similarities and differences.

As for the assertion that a 52Lb bot (made from anything) might damage a bot made out of Vex structural materials. Well DUH. A 52 Lb bot hitting a 15 Lb Tetrix bot hard is also likely to damage the 15 Lb Tetrix bot. Similarly, a very large car smashing into a very small car will probably inflict more damage than it suffers. Also, an M1 tank hitting a car would destroy the car and probably not suffer any damage at all. However, that's not the point, and neither your example, nor these I dreamed up are evidence that supports your thesis.

Blake

PS: I'm glad to see that FIRST is expanding the parts teams can easily incorporate into FTC bots.